ABSTRACT
As the world's refugee population is increasingly made up of women and children, the intersection between women suffering gender-specific human rights abuses and those who flee because of such abuses is gaining international attention. Despite an international climate that grows increasingly hostile to refugees, there is some movement toward the recognition of gender-based persecution as a legitimate basis for granting protected status. In the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) statement of its kind, the Executive Committee (EC) acknowledged that states may recognize claims of gender-based persecution under the "particular social group" category. Other countries are gradually making inroads in granting asylum protection to women fleeing gender-based persecution. The United States has yet to recognize gender-based persecution claims and has declined to accept such claims under one of the other existing categories. Women fleeing gender-based persecution are entitled to the full protection of international refugee and asylum laws.
